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Laysan Millerbird
The Laysan millerbird (''Acrocephalus familiaris familiaris'') was a subspecies of the millerbird, similar in appearance to the remaining subspecies, the Nihoa millerbird. Its dorsal side was brown, and its belly was grayish. Its name derives from its favorite food, several species of moths of the genus ''Agrotis'' (such as the endemic and likewise extinct '' Agrotis laysanensis'') commonly referred to as "millers" (Butler & Usinger, 1963). Extinction Very tame, it was abundant on Laysan, where it was endemic, in the 1890s (Udvardy, 1996). After the fateful introduction of domestic rabbits in 1903, which nearly denuded the island of vegetation in the next few years, the birds probably declined rapidly. Supposedly, there were 1500 still alive in April 1915 as reported by the USCGC ''Thetis'' expedition (Clapp ''et al.'', 1996), but a thorough 1911 census by the State University of Iowa expedition had found only "a few" (Dill & Bryan, 1912), as did a brief visit in February 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was presented with the Balfour Declaration, which pledged British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. Rothschild was the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1925 to 1926. Early life Walter Rothschild was born in London as the eldest son and heir of Emma Louise von Rothschild and Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild, an immensely wealthy financier of the international Rothschild financial dynasty and the first Jewish peer in England. The eldest of three children, Walter was deemed to have delicate health and was educated at home. As a young man, he travelled in Europe, attending the University of Bonn for a year before entering Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1889, leaving Cambridge after two years, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanager Expedition
The ''Tanager'' Expedition was a series of five biological surveys of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands conducted in partnership between the Bureau of Biological Survey and the Bishop Museum, with the assistance of the United States Navy. Four expeditions occurred from April to August 1923, and a fifth in July 1924. Led by Lieutenant Commander Samuel Wilder King on the minesweeper , and Alexander Wetmore directing the team of scientists, the expedition studied the plant animal life, and geology of the central Pacific islands. Noted members of the team include archaeologist Kenneth Emory and herpetologist Chapman Grant. The expedition began with the goal of exterminating domestic rabbits that had been introduced to Laysan island by the guano industry in 1902. Since that time, the rabbits had devoured Laysan's vegetation and led to the extinction of several endemic species. The rabbits were eventually eliminated on Laysan, and the crew witnessed the extinction of the Laysan honeycre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Extinctions Since 1500
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. Bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinct Birds Of Hawaii
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional extinction, capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential Range (biology), range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxon, Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the Fossil, fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever Life, lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Birds Of Hawaii
There are 71 known taxa of birds endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, of which 30 are extinct, 6 possibly extinct and 30 of the remaining 48 species and subspecies are listed as endangered or threatened by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Habitat loss and avian disease are thought to have had the greatest effect on endemic bird species in Hawaii. List of species The following is a list of bird species and subspecies endemic to the Hawaiian Islands: Procellariidae * Hawaiian petrel or uau, ''Pterodroma sandwichensis'' * Newell's shearwater or ao, ''Puffinus newelli'' * Bryan's shearwater, ''Puffinus bryani'' ('' P. assimilis'': ) * Bonin petrel, ''Pterodroma hypoleuca'' 99% of the total population breeds on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Anatidae * Hawaiian goose or nēnē, ''Branta sandvicensis'' * Hawaiian duck or koloa maoli, ''Anas wyvilliana'' * Laysan duck, ''Anas laysanensis'' Diomedeidae * Laysan albatross, ''Phoebastria immutabilis'' 99.7% o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrocephalus (bird)
The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and reed warbler proper, especially in North America, where it is common to use lower case for bird species. These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with marshes or other wetlands. Some are streaked, others plain. Many species breeding in temperate regions are migratory. This genus has heavily diversified into many species throughout islands across the tropical Pacific. This in turn has led to many of the resulting insular endemic species to become endangered. Several of these species (including all but one of the species endemic to the Marianas and two endemic to French Polynesia) have already go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laysan Duck
The Laysan duck (''Anas laysanensis''), also known as the Laysan teal, is a dabbling duck endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Fossil evidence reveals that Laysan ducks once lived across the entire archipelago, but today survive only on Laysan Island and two atolls. The duck has several physical and behavioral traits linked to the absence of ground-based predators in its habitat. By 1860, the ducks had disappeared from everywhere except Laysan Island. The introduction of European rabbits by guano miners at the end of the 19th century brought the bird to the brink of extinction in 1912, with twelve surviving individuals. Rabbits were eradicated from the island in 1923 and numbers of Laysan ducks began to rise, reaching 500 by the 1950s. In an effort to ensure the long-term future of this duck, 42 birds were translocated to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2002. These thrived in their new surroundings, and another group were later relocated to Kure Atoll. Taxonomy Named by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laysan Honeycreeper
The Laysan honeycreeper or Laysan apapane (''Himatione fraithii'') is an extinct bird species that was endemic to the island of Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Taxonomy The species was described by the British ornithologist Walter Rothschild in 1892 under its current binomial name. In a review published in 1950, the American ornithologist Dean Amadon treated the Laysan honeycreeper as a subspecies of the ʻApapane and adopted the trinomial name ''Himatione sanguinea freethii''. Subsequent publications followed this lead. In 2015 the North American Classification Committee (NACC) of the American Ornithologists' Union decided to promote the extinct honeycreeper to the species level and to adopt the original binomial name. This change was adopted by the International Ornithological Committee in their world list of birds. Description An adult male Laysan honeycreeper had vermilion upperparts, an ashy-brown lower abdomen and underwing-coverts, and brownish-white un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laysan Rail
The Laysan rail or Laysan crake (''Zapornia palmeri'') was a flightless bird endemic to the Northwest Hawaiian Island of Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species, including the rail. It became extinct due to habitat loss by domestic rabbits, and ultimately World War II. Taxonomy Its scientific name honours Henry Palmer, who collected in the Hawaiian Islands for Walter Rothschild. The following cladogram shows the placement of the among other rails, according to Slikas and colleagues, 2002: Description It was a small bird ( from beaktip to "tail" tip, fully stretched out), a flightless member of the rail family. Tail and wings had been reduced in the course of its evolution to lengths of merely and , respectively, and it only had 8 primaries as opposed to 10 in volant rails. The bill, measuring , was strong and straight, and the legs were also well-developed; in its overall proportions it was similar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicotiana Glauca
''Nicotiana glauca'' is a species of flowering plant in the tobacco genus Nicotiana of the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is known by the common name tree tobacco. Its leaves are attached to the stalk by Petiole (botany), petioles (many other ''Nicotiana'' species have sessile leaves), and its leaves and stems are neither wikt:pubescent, pubescent nor sticky like ''Nicotiana tabacum''. It resembles ''Cestrum parqui'' but differs in the form of leaves and fusion of the outer floral parts. It grows to heights of more than two meters. Tree tobacco is native to South America but it is now widespread as an introduced species on other continents. It is a common roadside weed in the southwestern United States, and an Invasive species, invasive plant species in California California native plants, native plant habitats. Description ''Nicotiana glauca'' is a small tree or shrub with many branches that normally grows to over 2 m, but can reach as high as 7 m. Its leaves are thick and rub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristle-thighed Curlew
The bristle-thighed curlew (''Numenius tahitiensis'') is a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands. It is known in Mangareva as ''kivi'' or ''kivikivi'' and in Rakahanga as ''kihi''; it is said to be the origin of the name for the New Zealand flightless bird kiwi although some linguists like Robert Blust has proposed an alternate origin from Proto-Oceanic *''kiwiwi'', the Pacific golden plover, instead. Taxonomy The bristle-thighed curlew was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus '' Scolopax'' and coined the binomial name ''Scolopax tahitiensis''. Gmelin based his description on the "Otaheite curlew" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. "Otaheite" is a former name of Tahiti. The specimen used by Latham was supplied by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruddy Turnstone
The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae. It is a highly migratory bird, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as turnstone. Taxonomy The ruddy turnstone was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Tringa interpres''. The species is now placed together with the black turnstone in the genus '' Arenaria'' that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the ruddy turnstone as the type species. The genus name ''arenaria'' is from Latin ''arenarius'', "inhabiting sand" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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